Thursday 18th October

54 days to go.

Well anoth day, lots of things done but nothing to show for it. I made more progress on the work front. I have a few things developing and being given the once over by the local managers to make sure the end result is achievable.

Now I have to work with my counterparts to make sure we can get the training up and running.

The Air Battles for Guadalcanal started on 20th August 1942. A ragged bunch of US fighters from the Navy, Army and Marines formed the "Cactus Air Force". They only had limited supplies, remember when the first landings were made only half were unloaded. Keep up at the back, were you asleep when I told you that? OK, Homework is to go back through the blog and find the date I told you about it. They were operating from a half finished field with not much equipment and were being bombarded by Japanese Navy and attacked by the Air Force daily.

On Sept. 1st the Seabees arrived and took over construction. The 1st Marine Airwing took over and things started to change. They were holding their own and managing to operate well. The worst was not over though. Both sides now realised the importance of the air field. On the 14th October the biggest attack on the air field began. No aircraft flew in or out, except for fighters that could use the second strip that had been made by the Seabees. Despite continuing bombardment on the 15th the Seabees were able to ensure the field was operable. The forces from Henderson were able to assist in the repulsion of a major Japanese attack.

From that day on the US forces were steadily increased. From the 34 aircraft that began the defence in August, by the end of November there were 116 aircraft operating from Henderson.